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Sun/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby Tim hums while the sun is shown in the sky. Tim reads from a typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, Why is the sun so hot? From, Arthur P. Tim is in a sunny field. Moby is next to him wearing sunglasses. TIM: The sun is actually a star. The closest one to earth. An animation shows the sun at a distance from the earth. The earth appears larger than the sun. The animation shows the sun next to the earth. It is much larger than the earth. TIM: It looks so small because it's about one-hundred fifty million kilometers away, but it's actually a million times the size of earth. Even so, we can still feel its immense heat. Moby heats a pan over a gas stove. It makes a sizzling sound. He lifts the pan and points to the stove's flame. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, the sun is way hotter than a stove. An animation shows the surface of the sun. An image shows the core of the sun. TIM: The photosphere, or surface of the sun, is close to six-thousand degrees Celsius. And if you went down in to the core of the sun, you'd experience temperatures around fourteen-million degrees Celsius. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Right, don't go into the sun. An image shows an animation of the sun. Hydrogen and helium move and collide to illustrate nuclear fusion. TIM: The sun is made of mostly hydrogen and helium. Nuclear fusion reactions, caused by the sun's massive gravitational field, fuse the sun's hydrogen into helium. An image shows the sun over a field and snow-capped mountain. TIM: This produces enormous amounts of energy, way more than enough to power all life on earth. An animation shows an animal eating grass in a field. A larger animal eats this animal. TIM: Energy from the sun makes plants grow, which animals eat, who are in turn eaten by other animals. An animation shows the earth and the sun. A curved arrow shows the earth's tilt. Arrows show where the sun's rays hit the earth during the months of July and February. An animation shows rain falling on a tree. The tree has a few colorful leaves growing. TIM: The tilt of the earth causes sunlight to strike at a different angle throughout the year, causing seasons. The sun dictates the seasons, controls the weather, and drives the water cycle. Take away the sun, and the earth would quickly become a frozen ball of lifeless rock. Images show land and water and how they would change as the earth moves closer and farther away from the sun. TIM: We're also lucky that the earth is just the right distance from the sun. A little closer, and all of our life-sustaining water would boil away into space. A little farther, and it would all freeze solid. An image shows a glowing circle surrounded by gas and dust. TIM: The sun was created out of the same cloud of gas and dust that formed the rest of the solar system. This cloud probably came from an old star that exploded at the end of its life, as stars sometimes do. An image shows the planets in the earth's solar system. They become very small when compared to the size of the sun. TIM: Today, the sun contains ninety-nine point eight percent of the mass of the solar system. That's almost everything. And in case you were wondering, the sun is middle-aged. It's about four and a half billion years old and it's got another four or five billion years to go. An animation shows the sun getting larger and then exploding. TIM: At the end of its life, the sun will expand into a red giant, reaching out all the way to where earth is now, and then throwing off its outer layers as a planetary nebula. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, these days the sun is a very active place. An animation shows large flames around the sun’s edge and black spots on the sun's surface. An image shows a dark sun with a yellow border during an eclipse. TIM: Enormous jets of burning gas, called prominences, and strange dark patches called sunspots, are caused by the sun's gigantic electromagnetic field. Sunspots, as well as other solar activity, seem to follow an eleven-year cycle. The sun's atmosphere, or corona, can be seen during an eclipse. Which reminds me, don't ever look directly at the sun. Powerful solar radiation can blind you for good, and no one wants that. An image shows Tim laying out in the sun wearing sunblock. TIM: Likewise, you should wear sunblock when you go outside for long periods. The ultraviolet radiation that the sun gives off can cause permanent damage to your skin. So, respect the sun, love the sun. MOBY: Beep. TIM: You don't have to take care of the sun. It, it does fine on its own. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts